Kacific Broadband Satellites has appointed John Hawker as vice president Sales, Melanesia and the Pacific. Hawker has held senior roles in both the telecommunications and satellite industries in several of Kacific’s key markets throughout the Pacific and South East Asia.

Akash Systems, focused on resolving the explosive growth of data consumption by enabling smarter and lighter satellite systems, has appointed Brian Holz as chief architect.

Holz brings extensive space satellite experience from his work directing the design and construction of satellite constellations for leading commercial organizations.

Comtech Telecommunications announced today that Michael Porcelain, the company’s senior vice president, chief financial officer, has been promoted to chief operating officer.

Porcelain will be succeeded in his role by Michael Bondi, who is currently the company’s vice president, controller. These promotions are effective October 1, 2018.

At the ITU Telecom World in Durban, Satellite Executive Briefing correspondent Roxana Dunnette spoke with INGRID PONI, Chief Director, Multilateral Trade and International Unit of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services,  Republic of South Africa.

The Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced that it will present its 2018 Promise Awards to Jillian Gorsuch of SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, Theodore McDonald of SpaceX and Mike Safyan of Planet. The Promise Awards honor three space & satellite employees or entrepreneurs age 35 and under for outstanding achievement in the early stages of their career.

Kacific Broadband Satellites has appointed Matteo Catanuto as Vice President Sales, New Zealand and the Pacific Region.

AQYR Technologies has announced the appointment of Virgil Russell as their new Director of Sales and Marketing.  He will succeed Rory Eddings who is taking over as AQYR’s Manager of Commercial Sales.

OneWeb, which is building the world’s highest throughput satellite system to enable affordable, high-speed, low latency broadband access for all has  announced the appointment of Adrian Steckel as Chief Executive Officer and Eric Béranger as President and Chief Operating Officer.

To give us an overview of Russia-based satellite operator Gazprom Space Systems (GSS) current position in the global marketplace, Satellite Markets and Research spoke  with Igor Kot, Deputy Director General, Business Development, GSS just before the IBC2018 show in Amsterdam. Excerpts of the interview follows:

ABS announced new appointments and changes of its executive management team to reflect its transition into the next phase of company growth and its ongoing commitment to customer service. These leadership changes include the following appointments and promotions: